


Je t'embrasse

by MagicalMajestys



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Humour, Jean is a chef, M/M, Multi, Other, Romance, So much fluff I could cry, This will end up being cute I promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-11 23:14:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2086800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicalMajestys/pseuds/MagicalMajestys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After returning home from France, Jean Kirschtein ends up bumping into his short, deaf and inexplicably adorable new neighbour but once settling back into his old job as a pâtissier for a popular downtown restaurant his life seems to take a 180 spin into a new direction.</p>
<p> And it was all thanks to that ugly yellow sticky note he found stuck to his door one night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Note

**Author's Note:**

> I was watching Ratatouille at some ridiculous hour at night and I came up with this fic after listening to Le Festin by Camille so yes, I am a massive loser and yes this was supposed to be a one shot but I changed my mind and yeah, you should probably read my dumb fic.

The feeling of homesickness would only really hit me whenever I was returning back from a long trip. I always thought it was something that could be pin pointed as some sort of fucked up nostalgia but maybe it was just the thought of getting to my destination faster so I could crack open a beer in the comforts of my own home.

When I walked into my flat building I was greeted to the familiar smell of wax and lemon scented air freshener that old man on the first floor would always spray around the place- it wasn't as if I had expected anything to change while I was away but the smell was sort of comforting instead of borderline repulsive for a change, I guess that’s just what France does to you when you’re there for nearly a year. Marco had gladly taken up the job of house sitting while I was gone so I wasn’t worried about the condition of my flat unlike the previous time I’d gone away to find that Connie had invited “a few” friends over, all while I came back to an empty fridge and a broken television.

I lugged my suitcase up the stairs (I didn’t trust taking the lift after all the times it had broken down on other occupants of the building) and dragged it into the hallway but my rush to get inside was put on hold when I spotted someone struggling to fit his key into the lock of a door nearby.

I hadn’t noticed him before I left and I couldn’t say I particularly recognized him either. It wasn’t entirely impossible for someone to move into the building while I was gone but it was still a pretty rare occurrence.

“Hey, er,” I called out awkwardly to him. Shit I wasn’t good at this, “Do you need some help over there?”

No response. Wow, Jean, now you just look like a massive fucking tool. Either he hadn’t heard me or he was completely ignoring me but it was most likely the latter as he continued to attempt shoving the key back into the lock.

I sighed and propped my suitcase and rucksack up beside my door before stepping over to pull out his key. I could feel his hard gaze on me as I reinserted the key, pushing it down against the lock and turning it.

“Abracadabra!” I grinned, pushing his door open, “The curse has been lifted, you're free to enter.”

I finally turned to get a glimpse of his face but stopped in my tracks after meeting his bright blue eyes, expression tender but still somewhat confused, though I was pulled out of whatever trance I was in once I spotted the shy smile pulling on his small pink lips.

“Uh, those locks are pretty shitty so um…you’re going to have to keep pushing the key down when you open the door. I had trouble with them too when I first moved in. How long have you been living here?”

My question was left unanswered with the shake of his head but still the smile remained on his face.

“Do you not speak English, cause the only other language I know is French and I uh…” I trailed off, feeling heat rising to my cheeks. First time putting in effort to help a stranger and they don’t even reply, talk about bad luck.

He sighed and pointed to his ear gesturing at it shortly with a slim finger, expression unwavering.

Wait, what?

“Oh…Oh!” I exclaimed, mostly to myself, “You’re deaf. Wow, I am stupid. God I- wow.”

The guy seemed to have gotten it too because he started giggling at my expense.  
We stood there for a few seconds longer until a small chuckle somehow escaped my lips as he smiled sweetly up at me. Damn, can someone even be this cute? He nodded to me and then without saying a word he stepped into his flat, waving at me on his way in before closing the door slowly behind him. I continued to stand there dumbstruck for a while until I finally pulled myself together and unlocked my own door. I pulled my luggage in with me and closed my eyes, deeply breathing in the smell of dirt and some fruity smell that may have been induced by some sort of air freshener Marco had been using while I was away and dragged myself over to the couch before jumping down onto it face first.

Man, it sure was good to be home.

\---

“Ah, Jean it’s so good to see you!” Sasha squealed, putting down her mixing bowl to join the others next to the dessert station, “Looking good as ever but still no accent?”

“No accent but yours is just as strong as I remember,” I grinned, buttoning my uniform shirt.

“Of course! I grew up in France for many years! We don’t change just like that you know,” she smirked, snapping her fingers on impulse, “But you better get to work, chop chop! Back to your stations everyone, we can all catch up with Jean later.”

“Looks like your girlfriend has really sunk her teeth into the position, huh,” I said to Connie as he slid into his spot beside me.

“Damn right she has, Jeanny boy,” he replied, grabbing a passing order off someone before sticking it onto the line above our station, “Head chef is a hard job to maintain so she’s got to take her shit seriously from now on, you know? 

“Jaeger’s late again, Miss Braus!” Thomas Wagner, a waiter, yelled from his position behind the door, “Should we send out another server!?”

Sasha groaned and nodded groggily before turning to continue pouring gravy into a pot.

“See?” Connie continued, “Work has been draining her lately but she’s still the same old Sasha.”

“Where have the good times gone, huh?” I replied wearily.

“They're probably being kept in the same place the money is being hidden.”

I let out a snort and poured out some cake batter into two tins before placing them gingerly in the oven, “It’s good to have someone taking charge around here though.”

Connie nodded, glancing up from the metal counter to watch Eren’s fruitless attempts of apologizing as he came bursting through the staffs’ entryway.

“Looks like he’s in for a good telling off,” Christa chuckled as she went past.

“He was probably with that no good boyfriend of his again,” Reiner grinned, coming up to stand beside Connie, “He’s always coming in late these days.”

“Probably,” Connie hummed, looking back down at the chocolate he was chopping, “Speaking of boyfriends, how’s Marco doing, Jean?”

“Oh haha,” I drawled, rolling my eyes as the two started to snicker, “You know it’s not like that and besides,” I grabbed the chocolate off of Connie’s chopping board and sprinkled it into the pot, “I haven’t even seen him since I got back.”

I sighed dramatically at the loud chorus of "Ooo's" that followed my statement, doing my best to turn away from Reiner's knowing look and the smug smile gracing Connie's features.

“Good point, but-!" Connie grinned, snatching the pot out of my grip and turning the heat up on the stove, "-you only got back yesterday so don’t go pretending we haven’t caught you staring at his ass in those tight jeans of his.”

“Only in those jeans!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Hey! Get back to work you three,” Sasha giggled from her station behind us, “We can talk about Marco’s ass later.”

“Like hell we will,” Connie said, picking up the second order as Reiner left to go back to peeling potatoes, “Seriously, I’ve missed you, man. The dessert station feels empty without you here to piss me off all the time.”

“Yeah, you too, buddy. Can’t say I don’t miss France though.”

“Did you visit your ma?”

“Yeah she was doing pretty well, I told her about my job here.”

“And what did she say?”

“Something along the lines of _‘oh, Jeanbo, I’m glad you are working so hard! Be sure to tell that Sasha girl I said hello-’_ ” I snorted as Connie elbowed me in the ribs, cutting off my absolutely perfect middle aged French woman impression.

“Hope you’re not trying to steal my girl, Jeanbo,” Connie snickered.

“Yes, Connie. I am trying to steal your girl,” I grinned, nudging him back, “but hey, you guys want to grab a couple of drinks after work? For old times sake?”

“Wish I could, man. But we’re both driving back tonight so no can do,” he said as I pulled the tins out of the oven, “Don’t tell me you’ve finished unpacking already.”

“It’s not as if I had a lot to unpack. I still had some of my stuff at my ma’s from my last visit anyway.”

“What so no house warming party?”

“There might be,” I said, “But not tonight, I think I’ve just got to settle back in first.”

“Aw man, you’re no fun!”

“What are you on about? I’m tons of fun- gallons of fun!”

“So much fun that my girlfriend is on her way over to tell us to shut the hell up and get back to cooking.”

_“You’re damn right about that!”_

\---

The night air was always a cool and familiar greeting at the end of a hard worked shift. I stuffed my work uniform into my bag and strapped it to the back of my motorbike before clambering in front.

Today’s earlier fatigue had already started to catch up with me and I let out a low whistle, patting the bike’s glossy coverage, “Now I sure did miss you, there's no doubt about it,” I grinned, revving the engine and riding off onto the road. 

It took me less than fifteen minutes to get back to my flat and I clambered off of my bike after parking it in the most secluded area I could find beside the building. I jogged up the stairs and made my way back through the hallway before stopping to find a bright yellow sticky note tapped to my door, only just visible in the glow of the lights above my head. I tore it off and made my way inside, placing my keys on the kitchen counter and flopping down onto the couch, reading it as I kicked off my shoes and relaxed into a more comfortable position.

_Thank you for helping me get into my flat the other day._  
 _I’ve gotten locked out a couple of times but I didn’t really_  
 _get the fact that you had to do it a certain way._

_-Armin_

Beside his name he’d drawn a smiley face and at some point after staring at the note for a couple of minutes I let out a small chuckle. So Armin was his name. I guess it fit him pretty well. 

A loud knocking coming from my door caught my attention soon after that, forcing me to stand up and trudge over grudgingly before pulling it open as much as the latch allowed.

“Jeanny boy!”

“Surprise!”

“Come on, open the door, man! It’s freezing out here.”

I sighed and unlocked my door properly, causing Connie to tumble forward and fall into my flat. I pulled it open wider allowing Sasha, Christa, her girlfriend Ymir, and finally Reiner and his roommates Bertholdt and Annie inside.

“Hey Jean,” my mouth twitched upwards as I turned to face the figure making his way to the door slowly from the back of the group.

“Marco.”

“So, Connie suggested a house warming party,” he chuckled into his scarf, “It’s good to see you.”

“Yeah, it’s good to see you too…” I shook my head, trying to stop the grin that had started spreading itself across my face, “So- uh, come in!” I said, stepping out of the doorway and allowing him to enter.

He smiled back and stepped into the flat, wiping his shoes on the doormat, “I hope I kept the place in a good state for you to come back to.”

“Yeah, thanks for all the help,” I said, shutting the door behind him, “This place would probably be a mess otherwise-”

“Oh, stop flirting and get in here already!” Sasha yelled from beside the TV, “The pizza’s getting cold and Annie won’t let me eat until we’re all sitting down!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Marco grinned, waving his hands in the air to calm the hungry girl, “I’m glad we are all together again. It’s been too long.”

“Damn right, it has!” Reiner grunted with a mouth full of pizza, “It hasn't been the same without you, man.” 

“Hey, don’t get any of that shit on the carpet,” I groaned as the group continued to rummage through the boxes of pizza they had lined up along my coffee table. I shot a pointed glare at Connie who waved and turned back to chat with the others mid chew.

“I think Jeanny boy is back in his true form.”

“His true form? What, a grouchy loud mouth that stares at himself in the mirror about 50 times a day?” Ymir snickered.

“Ymir!” Christa scolded, squirming in her girlfriend’s lap, “You also forgot that part about him being an intolerable asshole every time he has guests over.”

The group laughed as I sat down to join them, turning on my radio for some background noise as we ate and caught up on the things I had missed when I’d gone to France. It turned out that while I was away they were having a lot of trouble with kitchen staff in the restaurant, especially since the head chef resigned, leaving Sasha in charge of the whole operation. It also wasn't helped by the fact some of the servers (Eren) were late to work half the time and to make matters worse a critic showed up during all the chaos and moved them down a star.

“That old bastard was no way near as good as Sasha is anyway!” Connie growled, shoving another slice of pizza into his mouth, “and that critic had no idea what the hell he was doing either! It’s only because of Sasha that we even got the place going again!”

“And what about the dessert station,” I mumbled over my own slice, “Did you find a replacement?”

“I tried but no one was up to standard,” Sasha sighed, “No one can whip up a good crème brûlée like you can, Jeanny boy!”

“I can’t argue with you there,” I grinned.

“Ugh, I one hundred percent agree! Your raspberry sorbet is out of this world,” Christa added, leaning back against Ymir and staring down at the carpet as if the icy dessert would appear right in front of her.

“Don’t compliment him, it inflates his ego,” Ymir said, patting Christa’s head in response.

“And hey, where are all the drinks!?” Connie called out from the kitchenette, "Don't tell me you're keeping them all to yourself!”

“In the fridge, asshole,” I sighed, leaning back against the couch, “Man, you guys suck. First you invite yourself over and now you are trying to down all my alcohol too.”

“The only reason I even showed up is because I heard there _would_ be alcohol,” Annie deadpanned from her spot between Bertholdt and Reiner.

“You see that!” I grinned, snatching a beer from Connie as he waltzed past and plopped back into the empty space beside Sasha, “That right there is friendship at its finest.”

“And whilst we are on the topic of shitty friends…” Ymir chipped in, “Any of you dickbags seen Eren around much lately?”

“I only saw him once this morning,” I said, “And I think that one time was enough.”

“Nah, but he’s normally here,” Marco added, giggling into his drink, “He’s missing one hell of a party.”

“If this is a party it’s the worst one I’ve ever been to,” Ymir snickered, standing up and pulling Christa along with her, “We’re gonna go home anyway, all this alcohol is too tempting and I’ve got to drive us back but thanks for the crappy get together.”

“Thanks for bothering to show up, see you guys.”

“Later.”

After consuming most of the alcohol almost everyone made their way out but some of the group (i.e. Connie and Sasha) decided to crash on my couch for the night after getting blisteringly intoxicated despite Marco‘s hopeless pleas of “don‘t get too drunk” or “please mind the carpet!”. When I was certain the two had fallen asleep I crept into my own room, shutting the door quietly behind me before I began to rummage through my desk drawer. I pulled out a blue ball point pen that I was certain was on it’s way to running out of ink and a way too bright orange sticky note and began to scribble down a reply to the first one, making sure I remembered to stick it on his door in the morning.

_Hey, it’s me (you know the guy who helped you unlock_  
 _your door). I hope you didn’t think I was being rude_  
 _the other day, I just didn’t really get what you were about,_  
 _you know?_

_P.S. The smiley face was a nice touch._

_-Jean_


	2. Guess who?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ding dong ditch and Eren Jaeger.

Eren Jaeger wasn’t a bad guy but he sure was nuisance. 

I guess our relationship could still be comprehended as borderline friendship but it wasn’t really the good kind, it was more like the “are you my enemy or are we best friends” type. And unfortunately enough for myself, seeing him at seven something in the morning carrying enough food to feed a family was not on my bucket list.

“It’s funny bumping into you here, Jaeger,” I grunted, narrowing my eyes at the shorter male who seemed to think it was relatively funny for us to cross paths on the way out of my flat building.

“Don’t look too surprised, it’s a public place not your private beach house, horseface,” he retorted while scuffing his shoes along the concrete, permanent scowl in place as expected, “Looks like you’re still as grouchy as I remembered though.”

“Look now, asshole, not that I don’t enjoy our little talks and all but I‘ve got to get going. Sasha and Connie drank all of my alcohol last night so there is no excuse for your sorry ass to be dragging itself over here so early in the morning.”

“Pfft! As if I‘d be here to see you,” he snorted, tightening his grip on the plastic shopping bags he was holding, “I’m here to visit a friend.”

“A friend, huh?”

“Yeah a friend. Got a problem, Kirschtein?”

“Yeah and I‘m looking right at it” I snarled, pushing my way past him, “Just fuck off and don’t be late again today or Sasha will have your nuts.”

“I can’t make any promises!” he called back, as I crossed the street and walked towards the row of shops on the main street. 

Usually the place was pretty crowded at this time in the morning but when I got there the street was practically empty and I was still nursing a hangover from the night before. 

We had run out of headache pills and I woke up to Connie and Sasha jumping up and down on top of me sluggishly, bitching about my empty medicine cabinet. They then whined and refused to leave my bed until I brought them back the goods. Talk about a great way to start off the day.

I left the store still half awake, my head throbbing even harder after my encounter with Eren beforehand. Though, I couldn’t help but wonder who he was visiting despite our previous run in with each other. Sure, we weren’t the best of friends at times but I’d known him since our first fight at my thirteenth birthday party and that had to count for something, right? Our relationship was built on an unusual sort of rivalry that had started ever since I’d tried to ask his sister to prom during our last year of school and now all I know about Eren Jaeger is that Mikasa is forcing him to go to college and that he is late for his shift at least twice a week so the possibility of him having another friend I didn’t know never really occurred to me.

When I got back to my flat Connie and Sasha were still sprawled out on top of my bed despite the duvet and most of my pillows being on the carpet. I sighed and went back into the kitchen and poured out three cups of water before downing my own pills and bringing the other two glasses to my friends.

“Hey,” I said, pushing them until they grudgingly sat up, “Drink up and I’ll make some breakfast.”

“Isn’t that my job,” Sasha huffed, snatching the pills out of my hand and guzzling down her water, “Ugh, I really needed that.”

Connie nodded and took his share, eyes still closed as he drank it down, collapsing back into his position on the bed soon after.

I stretched wearily and walked out of the bedroom, leaving the door open in case one of them needed to make a run to the bathroom.

Grabbing a pan off of the rack above the stove I threw in a couple of eggs and some bacon, tossing four slices of bread into the toaster for the first round of servings. Sasha appeared a few seconds later, emerging out of the bedroom like a starved animal with a large red blanket draped over her shoulders.

“Food.” she grumbled, sitting down on one of the bar stools along his kitchen counter, “Give it to me, bro.”

“You didn’t even bother to wake Connie up?”

“You know how he is the morning after. He’ll puke all over the place.”

“That is what the toilet is for, my dear friend,” I grinned, pulling two plates and some tin foil out of the cabinet, “We’ll save him some for later.”

“I don’t think you can make promises like that right now,” Sasha smiled, buttering her toast and crunching into it, “Breakfast is too good to pass up sometimes, Jeanny boy.”

“Hey, I heard voices,” Connie groaned, trudging out of the bedroom a few seconds later with his face buried in his hands. 

“You sure they weren’t just in your head?” I replied, reaching up to grab another plate after putting the foil away, “Want some food?”

“Sure, I don’t know if it’ll do me any good though,” he sighed, sitting on the stool next to Sasha.

“That sucks and all, dude but you’ll never guess who I ran into this morning,” I mumbled over a slice of toast, Sasha raised her eyebrows and I continued, “Eren fucking Jaeger, on his way over to visit a friend.”

“He has friends who aren’t us?” Connie said, raising his eyebrows, “Who knew.”

“He doesn’t really strike me as the most sociable person,” Sasha added.

“Exactly, and that’s why I thought it was weird,” I murmured, running my hand through my hair in thought, “Do you think it’s his so called boyfriend?”

“Wanna find out?” Sasha grinned, finishing off the last of her eggs, “We could wait around until he walks out and catch him in the act.” She threw in a couple of air punches for good measure before jumping off the stool to stand beside me.

“Yeah!” Connie chipped in, “Like spies or something.”

“And where the hell do you think we are gonna hide?” I said, putting my plate in the sink, “This is a god damn building, not a freaking park! We don’t know what floor he’s on or how long he’ll even be in there.”

“Good point,” Sasha hummed, putting her finger to her chin in thought, “Then how about we play a little game of ding dong ditch and find out where he’s staying.”

“Seriously, Sasha, we aren’t sixteen anymore and I‘m ninety nine percent sure I‘ll get kicked out of here if we‘re caught.”

“Yeah I‘m serious! And if you are going to bitch about it we can only do this floor, monsieur mopey pants. Then we can run back in here to guarantee our saftey.”

“There is no way in hell I’m getting myself locked up for this.”

\---

For some reason I ended up coming along anyway, starting from the end of the hallway near the stairs and continuing further along until we reached a dead end. With each ring of a doorbell we ran successfully back to my flat like teenagers, ignoring shouts and threats from the other occupants as we quietly closed the door behind us, snickering to ourselves. But stupidly enough, as we made our way to the door I recognized as Armin’s I stopped slightly in my tracks, hesitating as the feeling of guilt started to trickle in. Connie and Sasha looked back at me expectantly but I shrugged in response.

“I don’t think anyone lives here.”

“Oh, come on, Jean!” Connie grinned, “Don’t chicken out now, we‘re almost done.”

“Jus’ don’t wanna waste any time on an empty place is all.”

“Well we are wasting time now just standing here. Come on!”

Sasha raised her hand to ring the bell but froze in her place as the door swung open and instead of the small, sweet blonde boy I had met a few days ago was grade A asshole, Eren fucking Jaeger, with the same scowl from this morning still etched into place. His face softened slightly with recognition once noticing it was Sasha, stepping down into the hallway as Armin emerged from the room behind him. Just my fucking luck.

“Sasha? Are you here to see Armin too?” Eren asked as nonchalantly as he possibly could even though I could see the curiosity easily creeping into his expression, “Because he has work soon and I was just on my way out so if you want-”

“N-no, no! I er-”

“She just lost her phone and wanted to see if anyone had found it…? Yeah!” Connie cut in, “Yep that’s what happened. She lost her phone.”

I almost groaned at his pathetic attempt of deceiving Eren, sea green eyes narrowing before glancing my way.

“Why are you here, Kirschtein?”

“I live here, why are you here.”

“Don’t try and play dumb with me you asshole!” Eren growled, “Stop trying to stalk Mikasa! She doesn‘t live here!”

“What?”

“You heard me, horseface,” he snarled, “She’s not here so go home!”

“I’m not stalking your god damn sister, Jaeger! I haven‘t thought about her like that for five years!” I snapped back.

Eren made a strange coughing sound that turned into laughter in less than three seconds, “You can’t even form complete sentences around her!” he threw his arms up as Sasha and Connie started snickering to themselves, “And last time you saw her you told her she had beautiful black hair! Aghahaha-”

“Shut up-!”

“Eren,” Armin mumbled, shaking his friend’s shoulder until he acknowledged him. His voice was unexpectedly soft though his speech was slightly shaky as if he was unsure of what he was saying himself.

Eren stopped laughing and looked down at Armin before picking up his fallen shopping bag from the doorstep and smiling apologetically. Pulling him into a one armed hug and signing something to him quickly.

Armin raised his eyebrows and signed something back that caused Eren to flush and bashfully stare at the ground. He grinned and Eren let out a loud sigh before turning towards us, blurting out a mumbled goodbye and leaving in a huff.

“What just happened?” Connie whispered to Sasha.

“Eren’s boyfriend?” Sasha answered as best as she could, obviously clueless herself.

“That guy looks like a fucking angel, “no good” my ass.”

“Maybe Reiner got it wrong.”

“You guys,” I groaned, rubbing my face wearily.

Armin let out a small chuckle and moved to head back inside but remembering the note from last night I stopped him, grabbing the edge of the door and pulling the crumpled orange sticky note out of my back pocket and holding it out to him. At first he blinked in surprise before taking it from me, causing our fingers to brush.

It seemed that I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed judging by the way Armin’s face began to burn a bright red colour in addition to Sasha and Connie’s uncontained giggling in the background.

“S-sorry!” I exclaimed.

He quickly opened the crumpled paper and scanned through the words before glancing up at me. His cheeks were still flushed though I was sure mine were just as red. I tried to ignore Connie and Sasha’s mumbling from beside my door as it wasn’t doing me any favours in this case but the boy was just too cute for his own good. He held up his index finger before slipping back into his flat and I turned around to find that at some point Sasha and Connie had disappeared back into mine and were probably mocking me from afar. 

He came back with another sticky note folded in half and placed it silently into my palm, waiting for me to open it.

_Am I making you flustered?_

I shook my head dumbly and he grinned in response, though the red tainting his cheeks was still fairly visible. I dipped my hand into my pocket to fish around for a pen but he stepped back into his flat, still smiling.

“Good,” he affirmed, before closing the door behind him.

And that was the second time within a space of a week that I had been left standing absolutely dumbstruck outside of Armin’s door.

\---

“-And then he pulls some crumpled up piece of scrap paper out of his pocket-”

“And he hands it over to him like ‘I’m so s-s-s-s-sorry!’”

Reiner let out his usual loud bellow of laughter and clapped Jean on the back, “Who would’ve thought you’d be the type to have a crush on somebody else’s boyfriend, huh?”

“Well, I dunno if that was our guy, Reiner,” Connie spoke up from his position beside the desert station, “Ymir told me he was a pretty shady looking character and the dude we met yesterday looked like a fucking angel without the wings.”

“What does Ymir know anyway?” Reiner grunted back, “Everyone looks damn shady to her.”

“It’s not nice to hold grudges,” Christa scolded, collecting a cooking pot from the stove and placing it into the sink.

“That’s right,” Sasha grinned, “My maman always used to say ‘What’s a feast without the food?’, and you’ve got to take those things to heart, you know.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” I replied, slumping over the table as the others packed away their appliances.

“I’m saying…” she continued, taking off her apron, “What good are we without friends?”

I shrugged and picked up my bag, “I dunno, maybe some people enjoy spending life without ‘em.”

“I beg to differ.”

I head out after that, leaving Connie to clean up his side of the station. I didn’t get very far either since as soon as I stepped out of the side door I bumped into a small, unfamiliar figure. Literally.

“Oi,” he sneered, glaring up at me, “Watch where the fuck you’re going, brat.”

“Sorry but this entrance isn’t open to the public,” I spat back, “Staff only.”

Despite his small frame he gave off a strong air of superiority, glare unwavering and fiercely intimidating (though I would never even consider saying it aloud).

“I’m waiting for someone. You got a problem with that?”

But before I could come up with a reasonable reply guess who came bursting through the door late as ever, that’s right. You’ve got it. Eren fucking Jaeger.

“I’m sorry I’m so late, Levi,” he huffed, brushing his bangs out of his eyes with gloved fingers, “I got held up at work.”

“Don’t worry about it,” The guy, Levi (supposedly) mumbled back, pulling his scarf further over his face, “I don’t mind waiting for you.”

“Jean, why are you just standing there,” Eren questioned, finally acknowledging my ever existent presence, “First you start making moves on my sister and now my boyfriend? Dude, you’ve got to get laid.”

“Eren, let’s go. I‘m cold”

Eren shot me another look before nodding and eagerly grabbing Levi’s outstretched hand, pulling him quickly towards the parking lot. They stumbled along the path together and I could still hear Eren’s babbling from where I stood before they climbed into a car together and head off onto the road. So that was the guy Reiner and Connie were talking about, huh.

…Maybe Ymir was right this time around.

\---

When I got in I realized I hadn’t yet written a reply to the note Armin had given me earlier this morning and though the thought of what had happened still made my cheeks tingle and my ears burn I was able to make my way into my flat and pull out the wad of sticky notes I had bought earlier this morning. But what should I say?

_Did I make you flustered too?_

No way, now I sound like I have nothing to say.

_I liked seeing you this morning._

Too forward.

_You’re cute when you blush._

What is this? A romance novel?

I sighed and chucked the scrap pieces of paper into the bin at the corner of my room. This was hopeless. I didn’t even know why I cared so much, I just met the guy.

I was momentarily distracted by the sound of my phone ringing. Groaning, I got up from my bed, clambering over the mess Connie and Sasha had left to wearily pick up the phone without checking the caller ID. 

“Hello?”

“Hey, is it okay if I come over for a bit?”

Marco.

“Sure, buddy,” I said, settling back into my place on my bed, “What’s up? You sound kind of uh…edgy.”

It was evident that he’d been crying at some point during the day but I didn’t want to point it out, unsure of how he’d react.

“I don’t really want to dwell on it,” he replied, “I just need some time to not think. Please.”

“Gotcha.”

“I’ll be over in twenty minutes tops,” he assured, “And I’ll bring food if it helps my case.”

“Well, I can’t deny an offer like that!,” I chuckled, “I’ll see you later, man.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

I sighed and hung up the call, placing my phone beside my head as I stared up at the ceiling. I still hadn’t written a reply to Armin’s note from this morning and for some reason it was driving me completely nuts. I tried to focus on what Marco had said on the phone instead, stretching and getting up from my bed to walk into the living room. Whatever was bothering him so badly couldn’t be that big of a deal, right? Marco was easily worked up so it wasn’t really unusual to see him worried about something or other.

Marco was yet again true to his word as he arrived approximately twenty minutes later carrying Chinese takeout and a large bottle of pepsi. I let him in and we sat on the couch talking and eating for a while until the stiffness in Marco’s shoulders softened and I felt like watching something on TV.

The only movie we could dig up that I deemed suitable enough turned out to be paranormal activity so the two of us sat on the couch, buried under a mountain of cushions and blankets I had taken from my bed. It sort of reminded me of something we would do as kids before my parents split up. I sighed and ended up shoveling a handful of popcorn into my mouth to block out any more thoughts that were bound to pop up tonight. It wasn’t all that big a deal but the memory was still bittersweet. 

After the movie had finished we both somehow ended up giggling hysterically until the credits finally finished and I got up to turn off the television, leaving the room shrouded in darkness.

“Hey,” I said, nestling back against the cushions in our blanket fort, “You know you’re always welcome here, right?”

“Yeah, I figured,” Marco hummed, crossing his legs under the blankets, “Thanks for letting me come round on such short notice.”

“What are friends for,” yeah, friends. That’s right Jean, just friends, “Uh-”

“Look, I know you’re trying to draw whatever thing you want to know out of me,” he said, cutting me off from my attempt of well, just that, “It’s not like I wasn’t going to tell you anyway I just- It’s just not an easy thing to say. Especially not to your best friend.”

His wording threw me off a bit. Was he coming out? I wasn’t so sure, he knew I was bi so if that was the case he wouldn’t be so hesitant. But maybe it was financial problems. Yeah, that had to be it. Jobs never paid well enough these days and university was expensive as it is. It could be housing too but if he needed a place to stay he knew he could come here whenever he liked-

“I have cancer, Jean.”

His voice was hoarse and I could tell by his slumped shoulders and the way that he drew into himself that he was ashamed to admit it aloud. I bit my tongue, not knowing what to say.

“O-oh.”

He nodded, pulling his knees into his chest, “When I found out I didn’t know what to do so I uh, I came here.”

I stared down at my hands, still unable to form a coherent response. Good, sweet, kindhearted Marco, why did it have to be him, it wasn‘t fair. Knowing this extra snippet of information was hard for me to comprehend though I already knew how selfish it was of me to think that, especially when it wasn’t me whose life was on the line. 

It’s funny. When reality finally caught up to me it bitch slapped me twenty times as hard I thought it would and now I felt too hollow to even speak even if I was making things worse. Fuck, how could they get any worse!?

“They don’t know if it’s terminal yet but I- uh…”

“What type?”

“What?”

“What type of cancer is it?”

“Leukemia.”

“Oh.”

We were silent for minute as I let that sink in.

“Are you going to get it treated?” I continued, lifting my head to finally make eye contact with him.

“Yeah but the chances of getting it cured permanently are slim.”

“I see.”

Another awkward silence.

“Look, Jean,” Marco sighed, “I guess I got unlucky with this one but I don’t want you to treat me any differently from how you normally do so can we just drop it for now and go back to laughing and joking around…please.”

I nodded and let out a shaky breath, “If that‘s what you want.”

“Good,” he said, the same smile from before returning to his lips, “And anyway, off topic, how are you settling back in at work?”

“It’s going pretty well,” I mused, “Everyone is the same as I remembered and Sasha’s gotten a pretty good handle of the kitchen now.”

“That’s good. I’m really glad the gang is back together again! We all missed you a lot.”

I chuckled and rubbed my arm, feeling the heat creep back into my cheeks, “Thanks, buddy, I missed you too- I mean, I missed all of you guys.”

“That’s good to hear,” he giggled softly, squirming a bit in his seat until our legs pressed together, “You’re a good friend, Jean.”

“You too, Marco, the best.”

\---

“Shit!”

Out of all the people I could’ve slammed my door into on the way out of my flat it had to be Armin. He jumped back, shocked and cradling his groceries tightly in his arms.

“Woah, sorry,” I said, rubbing the back of my undercut awkwardly as he took a step back, “I hope I didn’t hit you too hard.”

He averted his eyes and shook his head despite not knowing what I had said. He didn’t seem to be very good at lip reading from what I had seen and his speech pattern was shaky but judging from the darkening red mark the door had left on his forehead my analysis was correct.

I cursed and shut my door, stepping out into the hallway to stand beside Armin. I pressed my fingers lightly against the bruise and he hissed and recoiled slightly, pulling my offending hand away from the damage.

“I’ll, um- shit, I’ll go get an ice pack,” he can’t understand you, Jean. “Fuck, just wait here, okay.” I held my out my hand to signal what I meant and he shrugged in response as I darted back inside. I pulled an ice pack from the freezer and ran back outside to see him still standing there shivering.

It’s fucking cold enough out here already, dammit, Jean, get a move on.

I pulled him along until we stopped outside his door, pausing for a moment while he rattled around in his pocket for his keys. He finally unlocked the door and kicked it open, letting it bang against the wall for a moment before gesturing for me to come inside. Unsurprisingly his flat had more or less the same layout as mine so it wasn’t a very interesting sight.

I walked in and shut the door as he lay out his grocery bags on the countertop before plopping himself down on the couch. I would have laughed at the way he was bouncing around on it if it wasn’t for the situation so instead I took a seat beside him and gently pressed the ice pack to his now very purple looking bruise. He winced again until the pain subsided, removing my hand to hold it to his head himself. He pointed to his desk in the corner and shooed me over to it, unmoving from his position on the couch.

“Bossy,” I mumbled under my breath momentarily forgetting the fact that he already couldn’t hear me. But I guess he was a little smarter than I thought as he scowled slightly harder, pointing to the drawer underneath the desktop.

I felt around for a bit. Most of the stuff inside were writing materials, pens, notebooks, pencils, ink. I pulled out a few objects that he immediately declined before holding up a bright blue notepad until he nodded and held out his hand.

He put the ice pack down as I brought it over, unclipping a pen from the back before scribbling down something onto a blank page and handing it back to me.

_You ruined my beautiful forehead._

I looked up at him and he shrugged, urging me to write a reply.

_**For that I am truly sorry.** _

He snatched it off me and thought for a bit before writing something else and passing it over again.

_I guess that means you have to do something in return for me._

_**You’re asking me to apologise?** _

_I thought I was clearer than that._

He snorted slightly at my bewildered expression and tugged the notepad from my hands.

_I’m not asking for anything big but maybe a little bit of compensation. Like I dunno maybe you could take me out to dinner or something?_

My eyebrows rose in incredulity and I looked over to find him pressed against the back of the couch, smirk evident on his lips.

_**What, like a date?** _

He flushed slightly and plucked the notepad from my fingers.

_If that’s what you want it to be._

I grinned and snatched the notepad back off him, slowly scribbling down my reply until his lips twitched before handing it back to him.

_**Then yeah, it’s a date.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why I did this, but heck yeah speedy romance, normally I do slow builds. This was a bit of a long chapter but I tried not to drag it out too much. (But hey, speaking of slow builds, I'm sorry to everyone reading my other fics, yes they will be updated soon, I am just super lazy.)


	3. This Is Still A Date Right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad Coffee, Mikasa Ackerman, and almost kisses?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys are confused the italics are Armin's writing and the bold italics are Jean's.

_When I asked you to take me out to dinner coffee was not what I had in mind._

I glanced up at Armin who shrugged as I scribbled down a reply, sliding the notepad back across the table towards him to watch as he scanned through my answer.

_**Money is tight and I work late shifts, what can ya do.** _

_Well for starters, you could have bought me a better drink._  
He pulled a face at his cup jokingly, before looking back up at me, his expression somewhat teasing.

_**You’re quite the joker aren’t you? It can’t be that bad.** _

_Possibly, you haven’t so much as touched yours._

He took another sip of his drink for emphasis but I could still see the badly hidden smile creeping onto his lips from behind his cup of poorly made coffee. I sampled my own and almost spat the drink right back out in disgust. I didn’t even know how we ended up in this place anyway, the drinks here tasted like shit.

_**Okay, so I’ve been wondering since Monday.**_  
I wrote the first sentence down quickly before continuing after a few seconds of thought.  
 _ **How exactly do you know Eren? I mean, it’s a bit of a contrast don’t you think?**_

_We used to be neighbours, back when he first moved to Shiganshina. We met before his family adopted Mikasa, you know her too, right?_

How could I forget her.

_**Yeah I do, we all used to go to school together.** _

His eyes narrowed for a moment before shaking his head and scribbling down a reply. I ignored the gesture and went back to staring back down at my drink until he slid the notepad over to me.

_It’s funny, you haven’t really told me about yourself all that much. Don’t you have anything you like to do for fun?_

He let out a slight chuckle as I made a grab for the notepad this time, pulling the pen from his fingers and flipping onto a new page.

_**Well, this is still a date, right?** _

_As far as I know, yes._

_**Even if I bought you disgusting coffee instead of taking you to dinner?** _

_I would have preferred not to have my taste buds butchered by this bland excuse of a cappuccino but yes, Jean, we are still in fact on a date._

_**Then how about we ditch this dump and I’ll show you something fun instead.** _

He looked over what I had written, raising an eyebrow as I took the notepad from his hands and placed it into my pocket, all while trying my hardest to ignore his silent protests on the matter.

Okay, right. What’s something fun, super datey and affordable. 

I looked around for a bit after leaving the café while he trailed quietly behind me. The only sound I could hear for the next few minutes were our echoing footsteps on the pavement but it was somewhat relaxing in a way. I wonder what Armin would think if he could hear it too. His long yellow coat was buttoned all the way up to his collar and the way he quickly padded along behind me sort of reminded me of a baby duck. I chuckled at the thought and he shot me another strange look, clearly curious about our next destination. Ultimately, agreeing to go out on a date was a good distraction, though I still couldn’t help but worry about Marco’s condition. It was hard not to, despite his words from the other night. He just didn’t want me to start doting on him, and that in itself was understandable, though hearing it from his own lips was enough to reassure me of it.  
Today is supposed to be my day. It was good of me to get out for a bit to take my mind off things.

Armin had been walking at my side for a few minutes now and I heard him let out a small gasp as we entered the building I had oh so subtly dragged him towards. It was darker than I had remembered it being inside but the place seemed to shine under the multicolored lights as we stepped closer to the front desk. I pointed to his shoes and he held up his fingers knowingly indicating their size.

“Hey,” I called to the grumpy female working behind the counter, “How much for two games?”

“For the two of you, sixteen pounds forty eight,” She sighed, uncrossing her arms on the counter, “Shoe sizes?”

“A ten and an eight.”

She came back with two heavy looking pairs of shoes, well at least they looked heavy judging by the way she slung them loudly on top of the counter, and I pulled out my wallet and handed her the money much to Armin’s surprise.

By the way his eyes lit up in shock when we finally entered the bowling alley told me that this wasn’t a regular thing for him. He watched in curiosity while I pulled my shoes off and chucked them onto the chair beside our lane, only to replace them with the chunky ones we had received earlier. He did the same shortly after as I keyed our names into the monitor in front before they appeared on the screen above.

“Have you ever been bowling before?”

Armin shook his head though I still wasn’t completely sure he had understood the question. Cleverly enough on my part, I had typed my name into the screen first so I also got to start off the game much to his amusement.

“Well then watch the pro handle this.”

I picked the heaviest ball on the rack and made a dash for the lane, throwing it quickly towards the pins. I let out a small groan as the ball swerved sideways, falling into the gutter and causing Armin to let out a loud laugh at my misfortune. My second go wasn’t as bad as the first but I soon found that bowling wasn’t exactly my forte- while Armin on the other hand, was hitting almost every pin in sight.

“Dude, you’re a natural,” I murmured sulkily, taking a seat on the chair behind the monitor as he took his place beside the rack to wait, “This game is totally fixed.”

Armin shrugged and quickly shot me a smug smile, golden hair gleaming underneath the strobe lights. He carefully tucked a piece behind his ear before picking up another ball and scoring his third strike of the day. 

This guy was undeniably a menace, and a completely adorable one at that.

\---

“So, remind me again, why did you call me over here?”

“What, can’t two old pals just hang out without a good reason?”

“There is only ever a reason why you’d call me over here, Jean,” Eren sighed, tossing his bag onto the couch and taking a seat beside Mikasa who was already scrutinizing the place.

“Okay, maybe there is a reason but you can’t tell anybody alright,” I mumbled back, pulling a bottle of water out of my fridge and handing it to the raven haired girl, “My pride is at stake here.”

“Well it can’t be that stupid of a favour if you are coming to me,” Eren replied, leaning back against the couch, “So spill the beans.”

“Well, you uh- you know sign language, right?”

“We both do,” Mikasa chipped in, leaning forward curiously as she held her drink to her lips, “Why do you care?”

“Just curious.”

“Right,” she murmured, taking a sip of her water, eyes still boring holes into mine.

I gulped and she turned to stare at Eren who looked like he was having a hard time figuring out the situation. He wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed but when something did happen to set him off it was unlikely he’d just let it go and be done with it.

“Is this about the other day?” he asked, brows furrowing while his eyes bore into the ground, “You really weren’t there to see Mikasa?”

“What?”

“Of course I wasn’t! Dammit, Jaeger!” I snarled. Embarrassing me in front of Armin like that was bad enough but now Mikasa probably thinks I‘m stalking her too. God, this guy sure was a piece of work.

Eren thought for a bit longer before finally perking up, interrupting Mikasa mid sentence after squirming on the couch for a bit, doing his best to hide the little bouts of laughter spewing from his lips as he looked up at me.

“Ohh…” he trailed off, smirk creeping onto his lips as he finally put two and two together, “As a matter of fact, Armin did ask about you the other day…”

“H-huh?”

“I didn’t know you were into blondes, horseface.”

“Can it, motor mouth! Stop making me look like an ass in front of Mikasa!”

“Hey, I’m still part of this conversation you know,” said girl deadpanned from her spot beside Eren, “Can someone please enlighten me on the situation here.”

“Jean has the hots for Armin.”

“Doesn’t Jean have the hots for everyone?”

“Hey!” I said, propping myself up onto the kitchen countertop, “I’m an honest man, you know. I just happen to spot a lot of really beautiful people here and there.”

“Cough, cough- Armin Arlet- Cough.”

If looks could kill, Mikasa would have murdered me about two point zero five seconds ago. I trembled slightly under the heat of her sharp glare before she came up with a suitable response to my statement, “So that’s how it is…” she murmured,, “And how well exactly do you know Armin?”

“Fairly well.”

“Fairly well?”

“Well, we are neighbours, you know.”

“Right,” she replied wearily, obviously tiring of the conversation.

I shot a look at Eren who seemed equally confused about his sister’s judgment. It was silent for a while longer until the familiar tune of Fall Out Boy’s Thnks fr th Mmrs began to sound from Mikasa’s pocket.

“Hello,” she answered, shifting slightly on the couch while Eren and I listened in.

“No, I said I would come by later anyway. Didn’t I ask Marco to remind her.”

She argued for a bit longer before rolling her eyes and gesturing towards the door, to which Eren groaned in defiance.

“Okay, I get it, Annie. Just make sure they are both there to cover her shift, See you later.”

Mikasa sighed and got up from the couch, dusting off her jeans and pulling Eren up with her. He barely had time to grab his bag before she made it out the door.

“Well this was fun and all but I’ve got somewhere to be. We have decided to give you our blessing,” she nodded towards me before heading off down the hallway, dragging a slightly disgruntled Eren along by the collar of his shirt. Mikasa’s scary sense of humour had gotten the better of me yet again and it was so sudden that I spent a few seconds staring at my still open door in shock.

“What are you, his parents!?” I finally called back to her and praying she didn’t hear me.

What a waste of time that was.

\---

The restaurant had been busier than usual this week and I left with Connie and Sasha in tow, talking about their day and the recent change in weather.

“I think we’ll be expecting some snow soon,” Sasha hummed into her scarf, “It’s already getting kind of frosty in places.”

“It’s only autumn, Sash,” I replied, heading towards my motorbike and lugging my stuff into the back, “If it were to snow now the roads would be chaotic.”

“Woah now, buddy!” Connie grinned, grabbing onto my helmet before I could slip it over my head, “Where do you think you’re going!?”

“Home?”

“No way,” he replied, “You’re coming with us to get some grub.”

“Hell no. Angie is going to freeze to death out here, leaving her out in the cold is just another invitation for thieves and shit.”

“You are really more concerned about your bike than your stomach?” Sasha gasped, shaking her head in mock disappointment.

“Who isn’t!?”

“We aren’t."

“It’s not your damn bike!”

I sighed and snatched my helmet back, pulling it over my head and securing the clip underneath.

“Listen guys, thanks for the offer but I need to pick up some stuff on the way home.”

“Seriously?” Connie whined, tugging on my jacket, “You are ditching your friends for that lame excuse of a shopping spree.”

“Yes,” I replied, revving the engine, “Yes I am.”

I drove off without a second thought, ignoring their shouts over the roar of the bike as I sped along the main road. Sasha had been right about the cold as it nipped against my gloveless fingers, making me grip harder onto the handles on the way back to my flat. I parked up and head back down to the convenience store across the road. I bought a couple of packets of biscuits and some coffee for later, slinging them onto the counter and pulling out my wallet to pay. 

I made my way up the stairs and to my door before stopping to rummage around for my keys in my jacket. Five pockets and several other furrow searches later I pegged it up to being out of luck once again. First Jaeger, then Marco and now this!

“Fuck!” I hissed, kicking my door in a half hearted attempt.

I could always go crash at Sasha and Connie’s place but then I’d just be greeted with a bout of laughter and a “I knew you’d come crawling back eventually.”

Well, now there was only one other option left.

I sucked up my pride and side stepped over to Armin’s door, fiddling with the helmet still cradled in my arms whilst figuring out a way to alert him to my presence.  
After a full minute of nothing I finally spotted the small doorbell attached to the frame with a familiar looking sticky note tacked beside it that read the words “Flash, flash.”

It was kind of an odd choice for a deaf boy to have a doorbell but I didn’t question it any longer. It didn’t ring but ten seconds later a messy haired Armin appeared in a teal blue dressing gown, nursing a mug filled with something that smelled suspiciously of hot chocolate. All in all he looked extremely confused and slightly exasperated that I had stopped him from doing whatever it was beforehand.  
“Hello?” he mumbled, eyeing my attire slightly before his gaze steadily found my own.

“Hello…” I murmured back, cheeks burning from either the cold or the embarrassment of having to ask to stay the night- especially if it meant staying the night with someone as cute as Armin.

He let out a small sigh and shuffled backwards, allowing me to enter his flat. It seemed cozier later in the day and he squashed up beside me on the couch, picking up the same blue notepad from earlier in the week and jotting down words wearily.

_Not to sound rude or anything but it’s almost 12:30AM and don’t you have work tomorrow? If you wanted to come over I would’ve appreciated a text in advance._

I took the notepad off of him and wrote down my reply whilst shooting him the most sorry expression I could muster up.

_**I know it’s late and you probably want to kill me right now for fucking up so badly but I kind of lost the keys to my flat and I need somewhere to stay the night.** _

Armin snatched the notepad off of me but his expression softened once reading what I had written until he was finally laughing loudly, burying his face into my shoulder to muffle the sound.

“It’s not that funny,” I grumbled, mostly to myself as the blonde wrestled the pen out of my grip and began to scribble down something else, giggles still escaping his mouth at my expense. 

It was a nice sight all in all and I was grateful for the way that his small pink lips shone after sips of hot chocolate. They looked warm and soft and I couldn’t help but wonder if they would taste like his drink too.

His eyebrows rose when he caught my hungry stare, pulling the notepad towards his chest as I leaned forward before catching myself and snatched it back from his hands to scan through his reply

I cleared my throat at the now awkward air between us and busied myself with reading.

_For some reason I’m not all that surprised._

I snorted and he looked back over to me, that sweet smile pulling on his lips again. I couldn’t help but return it this time, grinning in response at how funny the situation was.

_**So I can stay?** _

_You can stay._

I nodded and he nodded back jokingly at the gesture before standing and walking into another room, returning with two pillows and a blanket thrown under his arm. He semi-pushed me off of the couch and threw the pillows onto it, placing the blanket neatly on top before patting it down and smiling, satisfied with his efforts. I sat back down again almost immediately after but I was surprised to find that Armin had copied my actions and was now curled up beside me. I jumped slightly in surprise though he seemed mostly unfazed by how close we were sitting together despite the short amount of time we’d known each other. It had been, what? Two weeks? Two weeks since I met him and I’m already spending the night.

I guess my face gave away my thoughts as he snorted and turned away from me in spite of staring at the cold wooden floor below our feet. It was a sort of nice feeling, being able to share your comfort with someone else for a change. My mind couldn’t help but revert back to Marco now and again but I forced myself to dismiss the thought quickly, as stubborn as it may be. I groaned inwardly, causing Armin to stir slightly, eyes fluttering closed as the silence was drawn out.

“Weirdo…” he mumbled under his breath, I scoffed and wiggled back into a better position, pushing myself upright on the couch.

“That’s really the only thing you have to say to me?” I sighed, allowing him to nestle his face into one of the pillows he had laid out beforehand.

It wasn’t until I had looked over at him did I realise that he had fallen asleep by my side. The only sound evident to this was the soft snores escaping his lips, tickling the skin along my neck in small puffs of breath.

I hesitantly reached out, brushing his hair away from his face- I couldn’t help but notice that it was just as soft as it looked. He mumbled slightly in his sleep before cracking open his eyes, meeting mine halfway as I continued to stare at his sleepy expression. They were a bright shade of blue, pupils wide as I studied them more intensely, not dropping his gaze as he lifted his hand to gently graze against my jawline.

I jumped at the loud crack of thunder from outside, looking away from the window to hide my embarrassment. I half expected a smart ass remark but instead he took my hands, brushing his fingertips along my knuckles until my breathing had regulated again.

There wasn’t often a case in which I was able to drown out the noise of the rain or ignore the bright flashes of lightening behind the glass doors of Armin’s balcony. But it was a new feeling. A strange one.

And for the first time in two weeks I felt content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I forgot to tell you guys but if you ever want to say hi, talk about jearmin or check out my art my tumblr is [magicalmiscreants](http://magicalmiscreants.tumblr.com/).


	4. From Me To You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikasa's up to her old tricks.
> 
> (There is a lot of dialogue so apologizes.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, this is kind of a filler chapter so I promise promise PROMISE loads of jearmin in the next one. I will try and get it posted by halloween if I can, there is just a lot of stuff going on with school etc. so this chapter is pretty late. Enjoy!

“Hey, I’m sorry about your keys man,” Connie said, carefully dicing up strawberries to place on top of the cake he had iced a minute before, “Christa found them earlier when we were all clocking in.”

“Thanks but-”

“But what? Dude, just chill out, okay. I‘m not mad that you wanted to skip out on dinner. It‘s cool, we‘re cool.”

“Uh, thanks, buddy,” I replied catching myself as subtly as I possibly could before I could count on making another excuse, or in other words not very subtly at all. I got an eyebrow raise back in the form of silent acknowledgement but weirdly enough, Connie didn’t push any further on the subject and instead continued placing fruit onto the cake in silence.

“I’m surprised you aren’t mad about it,” he said after a while, squinting up at me curiously, “Did something happen? Or did France finally help you manage your bad temper?”

Guess I spoke too soon. Or thought? Thought too soon?

“Yeah- well, uh, you remember that guy, the one Eren went to visit?”

“The blonde?”

“Yeah the blonde.”

“Well, what about him?” Connie asked, handing me some batter to pour into a pan.

“I stayed the night at his place,” I mumbled, throwing the pan into the oven and turning up the heat while Connie jumped up and down beside me, gasping overdramatically just for good measure before voicing his opinion.

“Dude! I don’t want to hear about your gross sex stories!”

“Hey, don’t be so fucking loud, man! It was totally a non-sexual thing! Just two guys hanging out, no biggie.”

“I call bullshit,” Reiner sang, walking past and laughing whole heartedly.

“Who the hell asked you!?” 

“Come on, it’s not exactly a mystery! Just tell us already,” Christa chipped in.

“Not you too…” I groaned in reply, burying my head into my hands to cover up the red pooling into my cheeks, “You guys are way too cruel.”

“Woah, woah, woah, this is kitchen, not a youth club!” Sasha scolded, coming up behind us with crumbs scattered unknowingly along her chin, “And hey! Get your hands away from your face, this is a sanitary environment, Jeannyboy!”

“Uh, Sash, hold up a second,” Connie grinned, dusting off his girlfriend’s face with his fingers, “Have you been sneaking food again?”

“No!” she squealed, looking down at the ground before shoving something that looked suspiciously like a potato behind her back, “I just got a little hungry on the job- t-that’s all.”

“Looks like someone is making this place an unsanitary environment after all,” I snickered as Sasha rushed back over to her station with a small pout on her lips.

“No fair,” she mumbled back sulkily, “I’m supposed to be your boss, I should be telling you what to do.”

“Jeez, you can be such an ass sometimes, horseface,” Eren sneered as he entered the kitchen, grabbing a serving platter and speed walking back towards the door before I could knock his snotty little face into the pudding he was carrying, “Oh, and by the way, you should text Armin later! He asked how you were doing earlier!” 

“God, shut up, you idiot!“ I whined, “What is it? ‘Everybody pick on Jean’ day!?”

“I thought that was everyday,” Connie replied, humming quietly to himself as he moved away from the chopping board to grab two lemons and a lime.

“Who’s Armin?” Christa asked Reiner curiously, leaning forward to try and get a peek of my current expression.

“Ugh, I hate you all.”

“Hey! Weren’t you supposed to wash your hands, Jeannyboy!?”

\---

“It seems like you’ve had quite the field day,” Annie deadpanned from across the counter. I answered with a silent nod and she rolled her eyes at nothing in particular- I think it was a habit. Annie had been working with Mikasa in this old record store for around a year and every once in a while I’d pop in to humor her or Marco whenever they were on shift.

Ymir showed up whenever she really felt like it but despite her poor attendance, she still got paid whenever she was on the clock. It seemed like a pretty unfair friendship benefit if you asked me, since Ymir was damn near impossible to get along with- but business was still smooth and apparently that was good enough for Mikasa’s high standards and expectations.

“You here to pass the time or something?” Annie continued half heartedly as I browsed through some of the junk they sold on a daily basis.

Ugh, who were these old guys. Gross.

“Pretty much, yeah,” I replied, slotting an ancient looking vinyl record back into its place beforehand, “Just needed a break from the kitchen for a bit.”

“Lucky you.”

Now I think about it, my circle of friends is practically made up of work colleagues, all with the exception of Bertholdt who worked night shifts in some stupid chain fast food place I’d forgotten the name of. But other than that I had met Sasha, Connie and Eren long before we started work, and I met Christa and Reiner on the first day the restaurant opened. Mikasa I met through Eren, Annie I also met through Eren- wait. Did I meet everyone I know through Eren!?

“What the hell are you thinking so hard about?” Ymir sneered, slinging open the door and walking up towards the counter, ignoring the way it slammed against the wall behind her as she brushed past a couple of carelessly placed display stands.

It seemed like Annie couldn’t care less about Ymir’s bad habits either but I knew that if Mikasa were here that’d be a different story.

“-Is the boss around,” Ymir asked, rubbing one eye sleepily before pinning her nametag sloppily onto her shirt.

“Nice effort,” I mumbled sarcastically, inspecting a new record before sliding it back into its case.

“Thanks.”

“She’s not here,” Annie finally answered, looking up from her magazine that had appeared from out of nowhere. Well, from somewhere. I was pretty damn sure she was hiding a stash of them or something under the counter.

“Why not?”

“She’s busy.”

“Busy, huh?”

“Yes, busy,” Mikasa said, pushing open the door as she walked into the store with a familiar looking blonde boy trailing behind her, “These walls aren’t soundproof, you know.”

“Right,” Ymir grimaced before quickly picking up her rucksack and heading towards the backroom.

I looked up from my ministrations of randomly selecting records to catch Armin’s eye. He grinned and beckoned me over, still smiling as I awkwardly approached him, though I probably looked like even more of an ass trying to maneuver around the shelves scattered all over the small room.

“Yo,” Annie called to Mikasa before looking back down at her magazine to read more of the glossy text, “Didn’t know you were bringing Armin around, should’ve warned me in case Eren is about too, that kid can be hard to handle.”

“Wait,” I said, looking up from the shorter boy to stare across at Annie who still seemed willing enough to hold a conversation, “you guys know each other too?”

“I thought everyone knew each other in our inner circle and not to mention, Armin is a pretty cool guy,” she snickered, though I was unsure if she meant for it to be a joke or not, “Guess someone is a little late getting off the friendship train.”

“Guess someone is a little late getting a real sense of humor.”

“Oooo, sick burn, man,” Ymir added sarcastically, walking towards the exit with Mikasa in tow before stopping to look at her, “What is it?”

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“You can’t just leave while your boss is talking to you, there’s a god damn schedule. Use it.”

“I got some shit to do back at my place, Christa’s sick and I’ve been on the clock all day.”

From behind the counter I heard Annie mumble something equivalent to “bullshit” but she didn’t say anything else on the topic. Christa had also looked perfectly healthy at work earlier so that excuse was pretty much one hundred percent pure crap.

But Mikasa didn’t know that. She gave her one more suspicious once over before sighing and dismissing her. Ymir grinned and practically ran out of the place while I exchanged glances with Armin who seemed equally as unconvinced as I was.

He didn’t appear to have his notepad with him today but I suppose it wouldn’t have been necessary with Mikasa around. The raven haired girl in particular, continued to ignore my presence and turned back to Annie to quiz her on what had been happening while she was gone, leaving me to stand awkwardly beside Armin as he silently stared up at me. Obviously there was nothing I could say to make my current situation any better than it was so I settled for just lamely blinking back at him. He cracked a smile at my crappy attempt of communication and crossed his eyes stupidly until I couldn’t hold back a grin myself. I scrunched up my nose in return and he let out a small giggle. We continued pulling faces at each other until Mikasa cleared her throat loudly, startling me and making me drop whatever vinyl I was still holding.

“Dammit, Jean,” Annie groaned, looking up from her magazine to glare at me while Mikasa peered over at us, a knowing smile gracing her lips.

Armin bent down to pick up the record while I apologized over and over again. He glimpsed over the title and handed it back to me, shaking his head slightly at the frantic movement of my lips.

“The- the Smiths,” he mumbled, eyes still lingering on the bright blue cover.

“Hatful Of Hollow, 1984,” Mikasa finished, leaning back against the counter to shoot me another tired look, “It’s twenty five quid and you’re buying it.”

“Seriously!?” I whined, looking back down at the vinyl, “Come on, it’s fucking ancient and I don’t even have a record player!”

“You dropped it so you’re buying it, it could be broken and it saves me and Annie the trouble of selling it,” she continued before glancing back towards the small blonde boy, “Besides, I’m pretty sure Armin would be willing enough to let you use his sometime. It’s only ever taken out whenever Eren or I stop by.”

So that was her plan. The girl shrugged and signed something to Armin, who had been looking back and forth between us curiously at our exchange. He nodded enthusiastically before catching himself and smiling up at me. I grinned back dumbly, trying to ignore the heat I felt spreading across my cheeks at the pure delight radiating from his features.

“Well there you have it,” Mikasa said, “He agreed.”

“I guess that much was obvious,” Annie snorted, pulling out another magazine from under the counter and flipping to a random page, “He’s practically glowing.”

“He isn’t the only one.”

“Stop talking like I’m not here!” I snapped, turning my attention to the two girls snickering across the room.

Mikasa gestured towards the counter and Annie held out her hand expectantly as I rummaged around in my pocket for my wallet.

“You guys are con artists.”

“And you have to be more careful with our products.”

“I am broke enough as it is!”

“Well that isn’t our fault.”

I let out a small huff of irritation and slapped the money down into Annie’s hand, “Happy now?”

“Ecstatic,” she smirked back, slipping the money into the cash register and shooing me away, “Now hurry along and go play that shit.”

\---

I found that I had started to become quite familiar with Armin’s flat as he snatched his aqua blue notepad off of the tabletop when we walked in, plopping down onto the couch and unclipping the pen from its side.

He began to write quickly as I sat down beside him, handing it back to me quickly before standing back up to run towards his bedroom. I waited for him silently, reading over his the neat wording of his handwriting.

_Are you ready for an otherworldly experience?_

I snorted and replied in my usually messy scrawl,

_**As ready as I can be.** _

He stumbled back into the room carrying a large boxlike stereo with wires and a large cable towered on top. I rushed over to help soon after a few seconds of staring dumbly as the small blonde boy leant up against the wall to maintain his balance. I didn’t realise how much effort it would take to play a measly vinyl, though it was worth watching Armin set it up. He dusted off the top delicately and blew a little on the plastic roof of the machine before slotting the record inside. After a couple of seconds of silence the music began to play. Armin still stood for about a minute longer, staring at the whirring movement of the machine as the tune sounded throughout the room. He put his palms on either side of the vinyl player and hummed softly. It was out of tune and quiet but I couldn’t help but watch his delicate fingers drum along the side of the machine as it thrummed against his hands.

“I want to hear it so badly,” he whispered, eyes cast downwards as he watched the record spin.

I regarded this in silence, not that there was anything I could say to lighten his mood. It had been one of the longest sentences that had passed his lips of which I had heard but also one of the saddest. Though once again that brilliant smile I had grown so fond of appeared in it’s place, leaving me to wonder if I had been hearing things after all.

I patted the space next to me and he let go of the machine to sit down. His eyes locked onto mine after a few seconds of not speaking but I guess he felt more comfortable with me today as he opened his mouth to talk again.

“Y-your name,” he mumbled, gaze unwavering despite the precaution evident in his voice, “How do you say it?”

I chuckled and grabbed the notepad from the couch and lifted the pen to write again.

_**Like John but French, so the J makes a “gzeeh” sound.** _

He lifted his eyes from the page to stare at me quizzically before trying out the sound, though it sounded completely wrong when he said it aloud.

“No like-” I squished his cheeks forward with my hand in order to change the tone.

“Juuu-Juuuuuu.”

“Gzeeh,” I repeated, forcing him to watch my lips as I pronounced the sound, “Gzeeh-on.”

“Juuuu- Juzzz- Gzeehhh.”

“Yes!” I cheered, nodding my head as he repeated the sound, “Gzeeh-on. Jean”

“Gzeeh- Gzeehon- Jean.”

He hid his face behind his hands for a second before looking up at me once more. My name had sounded weird coming from his lips but not at all unpleasant. As a matter of fact, it was surprisingly endearing. Well, endearing enough for me to feel the familiar heat rising to my cheeks and that gross yet familiar feeling whirring around inside my stomach, not to mention the fact that our faces were both painted red at the realisation.

He peeked through his fingers shyly, as if to confirm that he had said it correctly and it was cute enough to make me smile back. Nodding in reply before taking his hands in mine and resting them on my lap. 

He was talkative today but I assumed it was more for my sake than anything else. Whenever he did speak it was forced, well at least I knew that much as the hesitation in his voice was never too hard to miss.

He grinned and jumped up and down slightly in his place before flushing again at his actions and staring down at his hands, “I-uh…”

I gave his fingers little squeeze to reassure him and grabbed the forgotten notepad off of the armrest, trying to scribble down something encouraging before I could wimp out or change my mind. 

_**You pronounced it perfectly. The way you speak is perfect, don‘t worry anymore, okay.** _

And it was those fourteen dumb, badly written words that made him stop in his tracks, eyes sparkling slightly under the bright lights in his living room as he sunk into my side. He snatched the pen from my fingers a few seconds later, replying hurriedly before wrapping his arms around my waist and burring his face into my shirt. 

It had been just over a month since I had found that ugly, yellow sticky note stuck to my door after work that night and for that I was grateful. Sure, our relationship wasn’t anything special but it was nice having someone around to fill those silences with smiles instead of words for a change, sure it was different, but it was nice.  
I stared vacantly down at the words scribbled neatly onto the paper underneath mine, blinking slightly while the corners of my mouth inched upwards against my will.

_If it’s perfect for you then it’s perfect for me too._

\---

“You look like you’re in a better mood today,” Reiner remarked as I walked out of the backroom with my work uniform in place.

I ignored his comment and made my way towards my station where I found Connie waiting, punctual as always. The thought of having to work late again tonight put me off slightly since I had been doing a lot of spontaneous baking at home recently.

Gee I wonder why, Jean? Maybe it’s because you’ve been spending so little time in your own flat while you hang about in someone else’s. Great logic right there.

“He‘s right, you know,” Connie added, lingering around the fruit selection before setting up their equipment, “Why are you smiling? Did you see that Arnold guy again?” 

“His name is Armin, and god, can’t a guy smile once in a while,” I huffed, looking down at my feet for a second before turning to stare at the door, “What’s it to you if I did anyway?”

“Geez, guess you spoke too soon, Reiner,” he called over his shoulder while completely ignoring my defense, “Jean’s as cranky as ever!” 

“And geez, Connie. Why does everyone think it’s okay to bitch about me while I’m still in the room!?”

“Because you’re an easy target,” Christa said, walking through the small door of the staff exit, “Afternoon’, guys.”

“It’s good to see ya’, Christa,” Reiner grinned, “Looking beautiful as ever.”

“You talk like I’ve been away for ages, sheesh.”

“Guys-!” Eren stumbled through the still open door and into the kitchen, nearly tripping over the small step and catching himself on the doorframe before opening his mouth to speak again.

“Mayday, mayday,” Reiner whispered, “Eren Jaeger coming through.”

“-So my boyfriend’s friend Hanji is having a Halloween party-” he huffed, still trying to regain his breath as he walked towards the backroom to put away his stuff before stopping to turn to us, “And they said I could bring my friends if I wanted since it is an open event so- wait a sec, where’s Sasha?”

“She’s out in front,” Reiner said, gesturing over his shoulder towards the door of the main serving area, “Opening up.”

“Dude, continue. I’ll bring it up with her later,” Connie butt in, “Just spill some more info about the party. Who’s this Hanji person!?”

“Well the party- it’s on Halloween, obviously, and you’ve got to get all dressed up and shit, just the usual.” Eren sighed, scratching the back of his neck, “I’ve only met Hanji once but they’re pretty eccentric, so I doubt this will be some cheap ass event you can just drag anybody to.”

“Hell yeah! Richies!” Connie cheered, “Man, this is going to be awesome, we’ll be able to pull twice as many pranks as we did last year!”

“Sure I’ll go, I’ve never been to a Halloween party before,” Christa added. 

“Count me in too,” Reiner said, walking towards the freezer to grab some ingredients to defrost in the meantime.

“Jean?” Eren rose his eyebrows at me, shuffling a bit in his place before turning his back and gripping the door handle to the backroom, “You going to show?”

“Yeah, guess so. Depends if I’m busy or not.”

“Pfft. Like you’d be busy without us around, Jeannyboy!” Sasha giggled, walking into the room with a couple of boxes in her arms, “So, what’s been going on while I was out front? I got some new cutlery shipped in today!”

“That’s great and all, Sash,” Connie grinned, “But we all just got invited to a Halloween party by Eren‘s boyfriend‘s rich friends!”

“Rich people, huh?” she mumbled to herself before pulling out her phone and unlocking the screen, “We’ll be able to pull more pranks than last year! Have you texted the others about it yet?”

They continued you to chat while I cleared off my station, smiling slightly to myself at the exchange.

“You’ve been awfully quiet over here,” Christa chuckled, nudging me with her elbow as she waltzed past to collect the ingredients off of Reiner, “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing, just uh- didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

“Well that doesn’t surprise me,” she said with a wink, “Not with all that gossip I’m hearing about that Arnold guy.”

“It’s Armin,” I sighed, “not Arnold, and I’m guessing Connie has been enlightening you with my brilliant yet untold, life story.”

“He sure has.”

“Figures.”

“Hey now,” Sasha snickered, slamming her pot onto the stove and brushing off the table with her fingertips, “Save your yapping for later, Jeanbo!”

“I wasn’t the only one talking!”

“Jeez, no need to sulk either,” she whined, shooting me a look from over the top of her station and narrowing her eyes, “Let’s get to cooking! Time for chit chat is over!”

I snorted and pulled out my equipment from the shelves. Normally I wasn’t one to zone out- actually that’s bullshit, I always zoned out. But zoning out because of a guy? Well actually that’s not uncommon either.

The first order came in ten minutes later and after that it was like the flood gates opened up as we all soon busied ourselves with maintaining a steady pace in our stations. But still, I couldn’t help but be distracted by the thought of soft blonde hair and blue eyes, those delicate fingers, or those soft pink lips that I wanted to taste so badly. I groaned inwardly. 

Not to say that this lot weren’t the most amusing bunch of idiots I’d ever worked with but I was truly and utterly sure that; one, I had a stupidly familiar song from that vinyl running through my head, and two, there was no one more intriguing or complexed than the inexplicably adorable, Armin Arlert.


	5. With Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All aboard the party bus!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter is like sixteen days late but I had a load of fun writing this one so I hope you guys like it. 
> 
> Oh and if you ever want to chat about jearmin or check out my art my tumblr is at [magicalmiscreants](http://magicalmiscreants.tumblr.com/)!

“So, uh, where’s the party?” Marco asked, from his position between Connie and I. I should have realized this was going to be a problem as soon as Reiner told us his car broke down last week but for some stupid reason, I still took his word for it.

I did my best not sigh aloud at the screaming passengers inside the eight-seater vehicle as Sasha attempted to climb over Mikasa’s shoulder and landed roughly on a very pissed off looking Annie in the process. 

The van was cramped and boiling hot inside. Bertholdt had apologized frivolously for the lack of space as he sat down in the driver’s seat with a very relieved looking Reiner beside him.Ymir quickly snagged one of the seats in the middle, pulling Christa onto her lap and gesturing at Eren and Armin to do the same. I locked eyes with Eren as he smugly complied, tightening his arms around Armin’s waist until he emitted a shrill squeak of surprise from the blond.

“The party’s in Sina,” Eren finally replied, wiggling around in his seat before leaning back comfortably in hopes to maintain eye contact with me, “It’s kind of far but we’re got a map so no biggie, right?”

Marco nodded uneasily before bending his head to whisper to me, “Are you sure he knows where we’re going?”

“Who knows,” I shrugged sulkily. 

Man, did Eren Jaeger piss me off. I shot him another dirty look and he grinned back. Does he think he’s being funny? We’ll see what’s so funny when I shove his ugly mug into the-

“Jean!” Sasha whined, poking my cheek as she clambered over my legs, “Hey, Jean, move over!”

“You seriously think I’m going to let you sit next to me?” I snapped back.

“There’s no space next to Connie, come on- pleeaaaase.”

I sighed and leaned forward, allowing Sasha to slide down into a more comfortable position beside me.

“Fan-fucking-tastic!” I groaned, now choosing to glare at the badly stitched up hole in Eren’s shirt, “Man, oh man, am I having the time of my life or what.”

“Shut up and stop your neighing,” Eren said, passing the map to the front of the van, “Come on, Bertholdt. Get a move on before my ears start bleeding!”

“Stop fighting,” Mikasa hissed, kicking his leg hard with the back of her red leather pumps, “Or I’ll sit with Armin instead.”

Eren huffed and shot me one last look before burying his face into Armin’s shoulder grouchily.

When everyone was finally seated and at least vaguely comfortable Bertholdt started the engine and pulled the van out of his driveway. The first ten minutes into the drive was unbearable, my back was stiff from where Sasha dug her knees into my side and my ears were practically buzzing. This was mostly due to Connie’s restless demands to turn the radio on to which Bertholdt being Bertholdt, was too worried about taking his eyes off the road to say no. After another couple of long and torturous minutes of Connie and Sasha rapping to a Lil Wayne song, Ymir finally screamed at Bertholdt to turn off the music while everyone silently thanked her and loud mouth for saving them from their murderously bad singing throughout the trip.

“Geez, you’re no pop star either, Ymir,” Sasha mumbled sullenly, “Ya’ don’t have to be so mean.”

“Yeah, well at least I know when to keep my mouth shut,” she replied grudgingly, fanning herself with her creepy ass, demon mask thing.

“You sure about that?” Connie chipped in.

“Shut it, baldy.”

“Hey, um, not to be a pain but, uh,” Marco started, scratching the back of his neck before leaning forward to point towards a tall building that I could barely make out from the corner of my eye, “I’m pretty sure we passed this place five minutes ago.”

“He’s right,” Mikasa said, snatching the map out of Reiner’s grip to scan over it herself, “Wait, hold on…”

The van was silent for a couple of seconds before she looked up, eyes narrowing in Eren’s direction before finally speaking, “I thought you said we were going to Sina.”

“We are!” He replied, jostling Armin slightly on his lap.

“Oh my god, Eren!” she snapped, “We were reading the damn map upside down, you even circled the wrong area!”

“Well what difference does that make?” Reiner asked from his position in front of the two siblings, “Shouldn’t we still be going in the same direction?”

“We should,” Annie added, “But, we are heading outside of Rose, towards Maria.”

“No way!” Sasha squeaked from beside me, jumping up from her seat and digging her knees into my jeans, “It’s really dangerous over there! Thomas told me that before he was a waiter he worked as a delivery boy and he had to bring a package to one of the guys working around that area and he almost got mugged-!”

“Pfft,” Ymir snickered, “You don’t really believe that crap do you?”

“Ymir!” Christa hissed, elbowing her quickly before turning towards Mikasa, “How long will it take us to turn around?”

“Not too long if we can avoid traffic,” she replied, “But I can’t make any promises.”

I leaned forward to get a peek of Armin’s expression in the midst of everyone’s discussion but he seemed as calm as ever, clearly used to the bickering already despite the amount of times Eren would forget about his position and knock his body against the door of the vehicle. He caught my eye and shot me a shy smile that I would‘ve returned if my legs weren‘t being crushed by an over excited Sasha with knees that felt like fucking knifes. It was easy to see that Armin was pretty uncomfortable too despite his patience with Eren and the others but still, I couldn’t help but admire his attempt to just grin and bear it.

Eren and Mikasa were still arguing and Bertholdt was beginning to look more and more disturbed by the second. We were all shocked however as the van suddenly jolted to a stop, throwing Sasha across the middle row of seats and knocking Armin’s head hard against the window.

“Okay!” Bertholdt bellowed, turning around in his seat only to find himself met with looks of surprise and partly relief. Even Annie looked startled at his bold attempt of shutting everybody up, “You guys, you um…”

“What Bertl’s trying to say is,” Reiner cut in, “We’re all going to take a little break before turning around.”

He slung open his door and clambered out before opening the side doors and letting in the much needed air.

“We’re gonna be parked up for a while so everyone just breathe for a bit- but maybe not too much, it’s a petrol station not a shopping mall.”

We paused for a second before Connie jumped up and climbed over the seats in the centre, letting me have a nice taste of his three year old Doc Martens.

“Dude! Get your shoes out of my fucking face!” I spat, pushing him out of the van and onto the ground beside Bertholdt.

“Yeah, hurry up, Shrimpy,” Ymir said, helping Christa out before jumping over Annie and kicking Connie sharply in the leg, “Ain’t got no time for slowpokes, the booze will probably be gone by the time we get there.”

“Agreed,” Eren sighed as Armin clambered out after her.

“Oo! I know what’ll cheer you guys up!” Sasha squealed, hopping outside while Marco and I followed behind, “How about I go get some snacks- Come on, Connie! Let’s go!”

“You never even asked us what we wanted!” Eren yelled back as Sasha ran inside, dragging a defeated looking Connie along behind her.

Mikasa stayed in the van, talking with Annie about directions and other boring junk while the rest of us sat between the sliding doors, talking until tweedledee and tweedledum returned with their scavenges.

It didn’t take them very long as they kept most of their purchases to themselves but I was one hundred percent sure that the only reason Eren took the Snickers bar was because I wanted it, and he made of show of stuffing his face while I made off with a shitty ass Twix.

“Asshole,” I hissed through gritted teeth, kicking a small stone hard across the car park until it rolled off into the dark.

I shifted slightly as I felt another body slide over to sit beside me, only to find it was Armin who looked just as bored as I felt. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself and let out a loud huff of air. I stared back half amused half annoyed, well, it was mostly due to the fact that I was freezing my ass off and Eren still had the Snickers but whatever. 

“We’ve got it, guys!” Mikasa called from her spot beside Annie, holding up the map for us poor, cold folk outside to see, “If we get off at this roundabout here,” she pointed to a newly drawn circle, “then we’ll be able to get to Sina using another route.”

“Oh, thank god,” Bertholdt sighed.

“I told ya they’d figure it out,” Reiner grinned, opening the door and hopping into the front.

“Oh, hell no,” Connie said, pushing past Ymir and sliding into the middle row, “New seating arrangements.”

“I agree,” Annie deadpanned, “Last time it was too cramped.”

Ymir let out a bitter laugh and Christa shot her a look, “Are you crazy, short stack? You really think you can bag my spot?”

“Already did,” Connie smirked as Sasha ducked under Bertholdt’s arm and made a dash for the van.

“Dude!” Ymir yelled, diving in after them and grabbing Connie by the collar of his shirt, “Get the fuck outta my spot!”

“Hey, let go!”

“Ymir…”

“Get your shoe out of my face before I rip your god damn foot off!”

“Ymir!”

\---

“Are we there yet,” Sasha whined from Connie’s lap, “It’s been four hours.”

“We’ve only been driving for fifteen minutes,” Ymir spat sourly from her new spot in the back seat.

“Well, that’s fifteen minutes too long!”

“Can you guys just shut up,” I hissed, digging my feet into the back of Annie’s chair, “Bertholdt, what the hell is taking us so long!?”

“Um, we’re nearly there,” he replied, shifting uncomfortably in his chair at the van’s noisy occupants, “It’s just kind of hard to see out here.”

Well, I had to give that to him. The only thing visible from the windows were trees. A lot of trees to be exact. Usually I’d be totally into the whole creepy atmosphere thing during Halloween but this whole trip had been a real pain in the ass and now I just wanted it over and done with.

“This party better be worth it, Jaeger,” I sighed, “Traveling for over an hour in this shitwagon is not how I like to spend my nights off of work, no offence Bertholdt.”

“None taken.”

“Can it, horseface,” Eren snapped, turning on Mikasa’s lap to glare back at me, “You should be grateful I even invited you in the first-”

There was a chorus of loud screams as the van jolted, slowing down until it dipped towards the front and finally came to a rather abrupt stop.

“Shit!” Eren screamed, leaping off of his sister’s lap and bumping his head on the roof of the vehicle, “What the heck happened!?”

“Uhh, I don’t know,” Bertholdt mumbled, “We might of hit something.”

“Well someone better go outside and check,” Ymir snapped, “We haven’t got time to be sitting around crying over a dead squirrel.”

“I’ll go,” Reiner said, unclipping his seat belt and climbing out of the van. He turned on the flashlight on his phone and looked under the car for a couple of minutes before returning and climbing back inside, “Flat tire.”

“Are you serious!?” Eren whined, looking over towards Armin who was still sitting silently across Annie’s lap.

“We could walk it?” Christa suggested, “You said we were nearly there so it shouldn’t be too far, right?”

“No way!” Sasha squealed, leaning over to shake Christa hard by the shoulders, “This happens in horror movies all the time! We are doomed, doooomed.” 

“You know,” Reiner started, “That actually doesn’t sound like such a bad idea, we just follow the path onwards and boom, we’re at our destination.”

“I’ll call for services and meet you guys up there,” Bertholdt said, pulling his phone from his pocket, “If you have a flashlight on your phone just turn it on, no problem.”

“I’ll stay back too,” Reiner added, “Can’t leave ya here all by yourself.”

“You’re really not scared?” Sasha whispered, as Connie slid open the door by his side and slid out of the vehicle.

“What’s there to be scared of? You guys will be fine.”

She nodded hesitantly before climbing outside while I followed behind her, squeezing through the gap between the seats and jumping out. 

It was a lot colder than I remembered it being last time we stopped so I zipped up my jacket and waited for the others to empty the van. Armin hopped out last but it was only by the time we had started walking that I realized we hadn’t gotten the chance to talk all night. So instead I found myself walking beside Marco, well I was until Sasha and Connie slipped in between us.

“What are you doing?”

“Hiding.”

“Why?”

“Why not?” Connie whispered, “There are crazy people out here, man.”

“My maman told me to be careful if I ever go to the forest,” Sasha added, “Supernatural stuff goes on around places like this, especially on nights like tonight.”

“Ooo, I’m so scared,” I snickered, before grabbing Marco‘s shoulders roughly and screaming, “RAUGH!”

He jumped and pulled my hands away, “Hey, not cool, man. This place is giving me the creeps too.”

“Yeah…” I replied wearily, smudging the black face paint around my eyes after a few seconds of rubbing them. It was dark, who cares.

Armin was still a few steps ahead, squashed between Eren and Mikasa, as he had been most of the night. Now, I hate to be a sourpuss but that seemed pretty unfair, especially considering the fact that we were dating- well if we were dating, I still wasn’t entirely sure. But soon enough my impatience got the better of me as I stepped forward ahead of Marco and made a grab for Armin’s hand, pulling him towards me and away from stupid Jaeger and his dumb, working flashlight. 

He was surprisingly calm about the whole thing and fell into steady pace beside me despite the concerned looks directed back at us from Eren and Mikasa. I tried to fight back a smile when I noticed that he was still holding my hand- I mean, it wasn’t that big of a deal, right? Maybe I’ve just gotten too soft.

I snuck a look at Armin and sighed aloud. Shit, he was super cute, I’ve definitely gotten soft.

Talking wasn’t really big issue for us considering how much I enjoyed our little silences. He spoke when he wanted to speak and if he didn’t that was entirely okay too. Communication was difficult at times, but it didn’t really bother me too much. It was weird in a strange, satisfying kind of way and I couldn’t exactly pinpoint our relationship most of the time, but it was nice to feel instead of talk my way around something for once. It felt intimate despite the whole speaking barrier and even though we'd been together a while now, I still didn't really get why.

I guess his emotions were obvious enough. I could always see through the way his eyes sparkled when he was overjoyed or excited about something, or the cheeky way he would grin when he had something over me. Though, sometimes it felt as if I were falling too hard for someone that I barely had any time to spend with. 

It wasn’t like I didn’t know that much, I mean, I’m not an idiot but it was just a lot harder to get things out of him at times. Does he even know how I feel about him? Like, _really_ feel about him?

But what if he didn’t feel the same way and I was just another guy to him. God, I feel like such an idiot for caring about this crap.

He knocked against my side and I untensed slightly. I didn’t realise I was thinking so hard but the group had quieted down way too suddenly for it to go unnoticed.

“Did you hear that,” Annie whispered, “Guys, what the hell was that.”

Mikasa froze and held her arm out towards the group, stopping all of us from walking any further. 

A loud screech sounded from somewhere behind us, shocking me in place as Sasha and Connie dashed forwards away from the noise, screaming loudly as they ran down the pathway. Mikasa followed quickly after, grabbing Eren by his wrist and tugging him along behind her. 

Armin nudged my arm, harder this time and pulled me along the path and soon everyone was running, though I was unable to see exactly who was in front of me, or worse, behind me. Armin was slow, like really slow. And honestly if we kept up this pace we were going to get caught by whatever the fuck was chasing us. I didn’t risk looking back so I pushed Armin forward and scooped him up to drape him over my shoulder. For the first time all day he let out a loud scream and buried his face into my shirt.

Picking up speed was a lot easier from there and I quickly caught up with Christa, who was being hurried along by a very terrified looking Ymir. 

Okay, Jean, it’s not that funny, this is a dire situation.

Most of the group had split up by now and Annie, Marco, Connie, and Sasha were nowhere in sight. I could barely hear Eren’s loud screams from somewhere in front over the sound of the blood pumping in my ears, but that soon came to a stop when a hand grabbed me from behind and I shrieked and tripped over into the dirt with Armin crashing down on top of me. 

“Holy shit!” said, _wait_ , who the hell is that? “If you didn’t wanna party, you could’ve just said so.”

“W-what?” I mumbled, blinking at the bright light of their torch.

“You didn’t plan to walk did you? Because there are a lot of animals in this area and it‘s pretty dangerous out here. Wait, you have no light either! Seriously you should come back with us-”

“Oi, Hanji. It’s fucking dark as shit,” came the voice of the second figure, “Let’s just go back to the car and pick ‘em up, we‘re wasting time.”

Well, I’ve definitely heard _that_ voice somewhere before.

“Boo, Levi. You’re no fun! We just ran all of this way too.”

“Levi?” I groaned, pushing my back and a very confused looking Armin off of the ground, “You mean like Eren’s boyfriend, Levi?”

“Let’s leave this kid to find his own way back,” Levi replied, shining a flashlight in my eyes to put me off. 

“Hey, enough of that chit chat,” Ymir said, emerging from her spot beside a very startled looking Christa, “Can we just get in the damn car already, I need a fucking drink.”

“Polite aren’t you,” Levi sneered before turning around to walk back in the opposite direction.

She shrugged in return and grabbed Christa’s hand again, tugging her along as they head off. Hanji held out their hands to both Armin and I, pulling us completely off of the dirt before dragging us to walk beside them.

“I’m Hanji Zoe! They/them pronouns, pleaaaase,” they grinned, sticking out a hand for me and Armin to shake, “Your friend’s a quiet one isn’t he.”

“He’s deaf.”

“Ahh, Armin, right?”

“Yeah,” I said suspiciously, “How’d ya know.”

“Eren talks about his friends a lot, and you are…?”

“Jean, Jean Kirschtein.”

“Oh, I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”

“That’s…interesting.”

After walking for a while longer, we got back to their car and in all honestly it was a real relief to sit down somewhere comfortable for once, sorry Bertholdt.

Hanji and Levi hopped into the front while Armin slid in to sit beside me with Christa and Ymir squashed up beside us.

“Er, hey,” Hanji called to the back, “Can one of the smaller ones sit on someone’s lap because I can’t see properly in the mirror.”

Ymir tugged Christa quickly onto her lap and shot me a grin as Hanji started up the engine.

“Don’t know how we’re going to fit everyone else in here,” Levi grumbled.

Hanji laughed, “But what about that nice boy we met when we were driving up? The tall one with the car trouble. He’ll surely let them hitch a ride.”

“Bertholdt?” I asked. 

“A friend of yours?”

“Sure is,” Ymir said, resting her arm on the back of the chair and gazing vacantly out of the window, “Tire got punctured on the way up here.”

“Lucky we had a spare then,” Hanji grinned, “Couldn’t just leave him there standing around.”

“Wow, thank you so much,” Christa chipped in, “So, will he be driving again soon?”

Levi nodded and rolled down his window before sticking his head out and yelling, “Oi, dumbasses! Stop fucking running already!”

Funnily enough we’d caught up to Sasha and Connie who were still flashlightless, and scared shitless enough to listen to the warning in his voice.

“Who the hell is that guy?” Connie huffed, slowing down enough to grab Sasha who had stopped to regain her breath.

“We’re Eren’s friends!” Hanji yelled back, “We met your buddy Bertholdt on the way up, there’s no space in here but he’ll be driving again soon so just hang in there.”

“Dude,” I called out to Connie, rolling down my own window to address him, “Where the hell is Marco?”

“He got ahead.”

I groaned and leaned back in my seat. Hanji handed them a torch from their window and continued driving. Armin offered me a smile in an attempt to cheer me up but all it did was make me feel worse for ignoring him most of the night.

“Hey,” Ymir said, breaking the silence to lean closer to the driver’s seat, “so if you’re this Hanji person I’ve heard so much about, then why the hell are you so late for your own party?” 

“Well,” they chuckled, “My little friend, Levi here, got a bit lost on his way over.”

Levi huffed and shot Hanji a sharp glare, “It’s not my fault you live in the middle of fucking nowhere.”

“And it’s not my fault you decided to walk it in the dark,” they shot back, grin still plastered to their face despite the situation.

Levi ignored the comment and went back to staring out of the window. It was silent again after that but soon enough we found the others, sitting along the side of the road with their masks in their hands. Bertholdt caught up eventually, arriving at Hanji’s about twenty minutes after us with the rest of the gang in the van. 

Hanji’s place was nice but it was, well, unexpected and really more weird than anything.

There were creepy ass decorations lined up along the shelves across the walls and every room was painted in strange, exotic colours. You could automatically tell that the house belonged to someone wealthy, despite the crowds of people lingering about the place, but it was still very well used.

We all split up as soon as we got in and Eren walked off with Levi while the rest of us just toured about the house, checking out the weird stuff Hanji had on display.

Armin still clung onto my hand even after had gotten out of the car and it was a struggle not seeming too pleased with myself. We trailed around the place before stopping to grab a couple of drinks and sit along the staircase where the lighting was good.

Armin pulled out his notepad and removed the pen attached to it’s side, writing hurriedly before handing it over to me and staring up at the ceiling.

_I’m sorry we didn’t get to spend a lot of time together today._

I sighed and scribbled out my reply, watching his expression carefully as I handed back the small blue notepad.

_**Yeah, I know. But we’ve got some time now. (???)** _

He chuckled and placed it back down onto his lap, eyes glancing from the notepad, to the ceiling, and to my face again.

“Yeah…” he murmured, a gentle smile still on his lips. 

We sat in silence for a few more minutes, sipping quietly at our drinks while music blasted from the living room downstairs.

I was going to speak again out of habit but then I remembered that he couldn’t hear me. It was something I often forgot but still had to get used to.

I wonder if he was used to it too yet.

He hadn’t exactly told me why he was deaf but my best guess was that he had lost his hearing. But when, that’s what I didn’t know. 

It was still weird that I hadn’t met him until this year, despite being friends with Eren and Mikasa for so long. I wanted to ask about it but it never really seemed like an appropriate time or conversation topic. Actually, there were a lot of things I wanted to ask him. 

I could still feel his gaze on my features despite how easily I was able to turn away and shrug it off. 

His eyes were a brilliant colour, blue like the sky or the sea, and as those brilliantly blue eyes bore into mine I felt my guard start to slip, our lips hesitantly brushing against each other when I turned to finally face him.

They were as soft as I expected.

The kiss was sweet and chaste and I could the feel the heat radiating from his skin as I brushed my fingertips against his jaw.

But it was over almost as soon as it started. I could still feel his breath on my lips when he reached up to remove my hand, instead opting to take it in his and interlock our fingers together.

There was a faint blush on his cheeks but I’m sure I looked equally as flushed under the warm lights of Hanji’s hallway, not taking my eyes off of his as I leaned in again to slowly capture his lips in mine.

I could still hear the loud cheers and blaring music coming from the living room but this time I ignored it, squeezing Armin’s hand in mine all while the noise continued throughout the night.

But to him it didn’t matter and soon enough I was almost able to block out the sound of the party, pulling him closer as our lips worked silently together. All I could feel was the quiet thrum of my heart in my chest, totally out of sync with whatever song was playing downstairs and the pounding in my ears as I felt my blood rushing to my head.

And with that alone I finally realized that Armin Arlert did not need to hear to understand our relationship, to know or be apart of something.

He just needed to feel it.

**Author's Note:**

> Je t'embrasse means love/with love in French when signing off a letter.


End file.
